Techies
by also known as LuLu
Summary: A change from the normal fare. In the year 2002, the stage echoed with the voices of techies... (now includes: Author's Notes/Explanation, Chapter 1, Chapter 2)
1. Author's Notes

**Read Me First!**

I've never done a set of Author's Notes on their own like this, but I feel like I probably should, so everyone knows where this came from (if you read the original introduction for Chapter One, this is a clearer version).

This story is based on events _other_ than the newsies strike. It's a fictionalized account of my school's 2000-2001 musical, so there's really no newsies at all. It's a "what-if" scenario -- not what happened, but what could have and, imo, should have happened. Sadly, the musical was not Newsies, as it is here (we'd never get enough guys to fill the parts, and all the girls would protest that there are only six or seven female parts, blah on them XP But I digress.). Though the background information is the same (outside forces take the place of a departed teacher), it's very loosely based on our musical's events, really, something I accidentally misrepresented in the first draft.

The first time around I also implied that the characters were carbon-copies of original people. As I work father into this story, I'm finding this isn't true. The Kassels and Mr. White are very much based on real people, yes, but most of the other adults and the actors and actresses are fully fictional characters. The techies are based on real people and modeled after them, but not enough that they are exact copies. Why are they modeled after real people? Read on! :D

"Techies" was written for my fellow techies -- members of stage/tech crew, who are essential to making a show run. We do everything from set construction to props to lights to sound and beyond, and we have even more fun than the actors while we do it (bwahaha…techies rule! ::glomps any fellow techies out there:: :D :D). This is especially dedicated to my tech crew, our tech director, and our techies that graduated in 2001 and 2002 (I love you guys, and I miss your presence during the shows dearly 3).

Okay, that's it for author's notes. I hope you put up with my sap without wanting to throttle me ^^; Now go, read, be happy! ::grin::

Wait, one more thing XD

I own nothing related to Newsies! I own the actors and the adults -- basically everyone but the techies, who own themselves (though they don't know it ^^;). 

Okay, NOW you can read :D

-- LuLu


	2. Audition

Techies 

By LuLu

_Audition_

"Okay, folks, this is how we're going to do it," Mrs. Kassel, a plump woman in her early thirties, announced as she paced in front of the large group of students assembled in the auditorium. "You've all signed in, correct?" 

There were some nods, a few "Yes"es mixed with mumbles, but most of the students stood and looked around, all obviously nervous. 

It was the first day of musical tryouts at Eagle College Preparatory School, an all-boys school of approximately seven hundred and fifty students. Newsies had been chosen as their show for 2001-2002. Among the group of boys were also girls, but they were clearly the minority. To help fill in the gaps of female parts, members of the nearby all-girl's school, St. Mary's, had been invited to try out. It was a new tradition of the school that began after the previous musical mixing of Guys and Dolls was so successful. There had been rumors for years that the schools were going to merge, but in the meantime, they only integrated their activities and not their hallways. As a result, not only was the musical cast to be integrated, but the technical crew and orchestra would be as well. Mrs. Loretta Kassel, along with her husband, Daniel, was directing this year's production, after the previous director and teacher at Eagle passed away the year before.

"Because we don't have an alphabetical list, we're going to call on you in the order your names are written here." Mrs. Kassel held up the clipboard. "Are there any questions so far?"

"Excuse me?" a girl in the back asked, hand waving in the air. "I have a question."

"Yes?"

The girl, a unusually confident brunette, pushed her way through the students so she could see Mrs. Kassel face-to-face. "What are we singing?"

"I'll get to that in a few minutes. Please be a little patient."

"Oh, sorry." She laughed lightly. "I was just wondering because I'm the first girl on the list."

Mrs. Kassel skimmed the clipboard. "Gia Murray?"

"Yes, that's right."

"Just wait until we begin, then, Gia." Mrs. Kassel's voice rose so that everyone could hear it again. "In case not very many of you have heard of Newsies, it was a musical put out by Disney in 1992. Has anyone seen the movie?" She didn't wait for only a dozen people to raise their hands. "Newsies is based on when the newspaper boys of New York went on strike in 1899. Because the story mainly focuses on this, most of the parts are male. Don't worry, girls," she added with a specious chuckle, "there are female parts. However, only two roles have both singing and speaking parts. We have a few solo singers too, and, of course, we need girls as well as boys for extras. I hope that eases any fears you all might have." Again, she didn't wait for a reply. "The main characters in this show for the boys are Jack Kelly and David Jacobs, two newsies who help organize the strike. Jack is headstrong and impulsive, while David is book-smart and cautious. These are the two with the most singing parts. Other newsies with solos include Racetrack, Kid Blink, Skittery, Mush, Snipeshooter, and Spot Conlon, leader of the newsies of Brooklyn." Mrs. Kassel smiled, pleased with her simple, condensed explanation of the boy's parts. She didn't see one girl in the back roll her eyes. "For the girls, we have Medda Larkson, a vaudeville performer and one of Jack's close friends, and Sarah Jacobs, David's younger sister and Jack's love interest. We also have four additional solo song roles for the girls. Are their any more questions?"

None. She continued.

"Now that we have the basic plot covered, we can begin tryouts. We've got a separate song for each group to sing. The girls will be singing Medda's song, 'My Lovey-Dovey Baby'."

Towards the front of the group, someone snickered.

"I fail to see the humor in that," she reprimanded sharply.

"Sorry, ma'am," Will Phillips, sophomore and the boy who had laughed, apologized. Mrs. Kassel ignored him and continued.

"The boys will be singing a song called 'Seize the Day.' Mr. Kassel will now play these songs for you on the piano. Please pay attention."

Daniel Kassel, the skinny man sitting at the piano, smiled and waved at the group before getting to work. As his wife had directed, he began plunking out the tune of Medda's song. Everyone was looking forward to silently laughing over whatever rendition he was going to sing, but instead, the show's vocal director, Ms. Jennie O'Malley, a St. Mary's teacher fresh out of college, spared the students some pain by singing it herself. 

"Geez, we might as well cast her," Will whispered to a friend. "She's probably got a better voice than the rest of the girls here, and she's hot to boot."

The girl standing next to him elbowed him hard in the ribs. He stifled a painful cry and grimaced.

"Sorry 'bout that, Iris. But do you have to hit so hard?"

Iris Galliano rolled her eyes.

"Just watch your mouth, Will." He nodded.

"Hey, Iris," said the boy Will had been talking to, Adlai Hamilton, a sophomore like Iris and Will. "Why didn't Lainey try out?"

Iris frowned at the mention of her friend's name.

"Because Lainey's a wuss with stage fright, Adlai. Trust me, I _tried_ dragging her with me, and I know she promised us all she'd be here, but--"

Adlai cut her off. "I'll call her when these stupid things are over." 

"Oh reeeeeally?" Iris asked in a teasing voice.

"Stuff it, Iris, you know what I mean." Lainey Renard had been Adlai's best friend since childhood and, no matter what Iris thought, nothing more. He looked over at the slender teacher standing next to the piano. "Y'know, I feel sorry for you. You've got to go up there and sing and you don't even know how the song goes." 

Iris's eyes grew to double their size as realized she hadn't been paying attention to Ms. O'Malley at all.

"OH, SHIT!" she hissed. "Damn you two!"

"Don't blame us!" scolded Will, stifling a laugh. "It's not our fault you have poor listening skills!"

"…and coochie-coo with me," Ms. O'Malley finished. The students politely applauded as Mr. Kassel briskly broke into "Seize the Day".

"Oh. My. God..." whispered Iris, covering her face with her hands as he sang.

"What is it?" murmured Christian McNamara, an Eagle junior standing nearby. Will and Adlai were doing their best to ignore Iris and concentrate on the song…or, at least, that's what it looked like. Iris knew they were just trying to make fun of her for not hearing Ms. O'Malley earlier.

"He's…terrible!" Iris laughed into her hands, doing everything she could to muffle the sound.

"He's not _that_ bad," said freshman Ken Rhints.

"I'm just glad he's not the vocal director," Iris smirked. "We'd all be up shit creek if he were."

"You're exaggerating."

"I tend to do that sometimes." She smiled as the piano chords faded.

"A-RISE and seize the daaaaay," Mr. Kassel finished. She winced.

"But you have to admit, he really sucks," she mumbled.

"Iris, shut up," commented Will. She hit him again. "Ow!"

"Is there a problem back there?" demanded Mrs. Kassel.

"No, ma'am," said Adlai, rolling his eyes. "You two just don't shut up," he hissed. Will and Iris just gave him innocent looks.

"We'll commence with the auditions, then, with Murray, Gia. The rest of you can sit."

Gia Murray smiled and approached the stage. Everyone else took seats in the auditorium to talk quietly. 

"She's a shoo-in for Medda," whispered St. Mary's senior Jen Talten as Gia began to sing. She had a strong, clear voice, and was obviously full of talent. "Everyone knows it."

"We never had a chance," agreed junior Emily Little.

"Were you guys trying for Medda too?" asked another junior girl, Kathryn Hanley.

"Yeah right," said Emily. "Gia's the only one with a chance."

"Yeah, and Nate is a lock for Jack," said Jen. "It's so obvious that these shows are fixed. After all, he was Sky in 'Guys last year, too."

"And Harold Hill the year before," added Iris.  
"I want to be Sarah," sighed freshman Jessica Wagner. "She gets to kiss him."  
"No way!" giggled Iris. "Seriously?" Jessica nodded. "What I wouldn't give for a chance to kiss Nathan Jesperton!"

"Yeah, you and half the St. Mary's student body," senior Faye Costello reminded her. "Don't forget, there are some girls who've been lusting after 'the most beautiful boy at Eagle' since his freshman year."

"Like me!" exclaimed Jen, and they all broke down into hushed giggles.

"Next," announced Mrs. Kassel from the stage, "is Conway, Steve."

Steve Conway, a redheaded Eagle sophomore, leapt out of his seat and approached the stage. Gia took a seat, but not near the girls who had been talking.

"What a snob," mumbled Iris. "Get rid of the ego, honey."

"Steve's pretty good," said Faye. "Who's he trying for?"

"Beats me."

"He could get David, maybe."

"Steve's a better actor than a singer, though," Jen said. "They'll give him something else."

"But David Moscow couldn't sing well either," reminded Jessica. 

"I thought he was pretty good," replied Jen.

"Nah, he sucked."

"I can't believe you guys can pick apart a movie like this," Iris commented as Mrs. Kassel called Adlai. "Hey! Adlai's going to sing! AWW YEAH, ADLAI!" she hooted. "DO IT FOR LAINEY!!"

The girls laughed as a blushing Adlai took the stage.

"Lainey Renard?" asked Emily. Iris nodded. "Are they going out?"

"No…but it drives him crazy when I bug him about it," she grinned.

"That reminds me," said sophomore Sylvia Telven, who had been silent until now, "are you and Will Phillips going out?"

"Hell no!" she exclaimed.  
"Will Phillips?" asked Jessica. "He's hot."

"He's annoying as hell, too," Iris told them.

"You two act like you're going out," said Sylvia. 

"Ugh, no."  
"Galliano, Iris!"

"Oh, no." 

"Galliano, Iris," repeated Mrs. Kassel. 

"I thought I was further down on the list!" she groaned, standing.

"Good luck!" whispered Emily.

"Break a leg!" added Kathryn.

"I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die." She repeated this mantra softly and furiously as she approached the stage.  "Hiiii~!" she exclaimed, faking cheer. "How are you tonight?"

Mrs. Kassel blinked. "Fine," she told Iris. "I know you're nervous, but you're holding up auditions."

"Oh…sorry," she apologized. 'Here goes nothing…' she thought as Mr. Kassel began to play. "My lovey-dovey babyyyyy…" She swallowed and looked up at the ceiling. "….You make the doves fly free…you love to make them fly away, oh, and they sing tweedeleedee…" She could hear Will and Adlai laughing, and the girls giggling too, and did everything she could to resist joining them.

"Your improv skills are very impressive, Iris," Mrs. Kassel interrupted, "but that's not the song."

"Can I sing 'Seize the Day', then? I know the words to that."

"Are you trying out for a boy's part?" she smirked. Iris could hear the students laughing.

"No, ma'am," she growled through gritted teeth. "If you'll excuse me, Mrs. Kassel, it seems like you don't want me here." She hopped off the stage and headed down the aisle for the auditorium exit.

"Drama queen," Will whispered as she passed by. She kicked him. "Ow!"

"For once in your life, Will, shut up," she grumbled.

"Will Phillips!" Mrs. Kassel called. "You're next."

"Looks like they're calling me," Will said, rising. "And I know the words to my song."

Iris didn't hear him; she continued out the door and home.

"Poor Iris," said Emily.

"They should have cut her a little slack at least," reflected Sylvia. "I'm surprised Ms. O'Malley didn't even step in for her."

"They did the right thing," Gia Murray said. "She didn't know her part, so she shouldn't have been up there."

"Look, not all of us have a lock for the female lead, Gia," growled Kathryn. "Be at least a little nice for once, would you?"

"I never --"

"I don't want to hear it."

"Hmph!" Gia huffed, and moved to the end of the row to talk to another senior, Kristin Naovin and a freshman, Caroline McAllen.

"Oh my God, Katy!" exclaimed Emily. "I've never seen you do something like that before!"

"Stand up for someone?" she asked. "Iris is too nice to be insulted like that."

"That's bitching someone out!" she exclaimed. "Sweet, girl!"

"It was nothing," Kathryn smiled, reddening a little. "Hey," she said, switching the subject, "I think Will has a chance for Jack, even if his competition _is_ Nate."

"I don't see him as Jack," interrupted Sylvia.

"No?"

"He's more of a Kid Blink to me…"

_Three hours and a hell of a lot more auditions later._

"Well, everyone," Mrs. Kassel announced as junior Lucas Jenkins took his seat, "that's it for tonight." A few scattered students let out a deflated cheer. "Callbacks will be posted in two days. Don't be upset if your name's not posted, you may still have made it. You all did very well tonight."

"Even Iris?" asked Faye under her breath.

"Iris beat us all out just for not taking any shit from that whale of a woman," whispered Jen.

"On behalf of Ms. O'Malley, Mr. Kassel, and myself," she finished, "good luck to all of you, and have a good rest of the night!"

"'Good rest of the night'?" asked sophomore Casey Conrad as he put on his coat before going out into the cold November night. "It's ten o'clock!"

"Hey Case, can you give me a ride home?" asked freshman Heath Lusk.

"Sure thing," he said. "See the rest of you guys tomorrow."

"See ya," agreed a few Eagle boys as they headed out.

"Later, girls," said junior Angelina Anton as she left.

"You still calling Lainey when you get home?" Will asked Adlai.

"Yeah," he said. "Iris probably already got to her, but knowing Iris, Lainey'll need to hear both sides of the story before she sets it straight."

"Be sure to tell her this is going to be an interesting production…" Will said as they exited.

Little did he know how true his words would be.

(Well, folks, that's chapter one ^^ Please review~!)


	3. Early Surprise

**Notes:** First, I want to thank everyone for their positive response to this story thus far. This is not only to the people who reviewed, but to people who dropped me emails ('cos of ff.net's shutdown in July ^^;) too. I really appreciate all the feedback I received so far (and I know, I am the slowest person when it comes to responding to email x_x;; Forgive me, especially if I somehow didn't reply at all. Every piece of feedback I received I'm grateful for). I especially want to thank Killersabinx for hounding me to finish this chapter (I'm sorry it's so late! The unexpected came up.). It's mostly silly filler, unfortunately, but hey, silly filler is still fun :D

Techies 

_Early Surprise_

"Lainey! LAINEY!"

Morning, as always, was a difficult trial in the Renard home.

"Lainey!" Mrs. Renard bellowed again through the shut bedroom door. "Lainey, this is the last time I'm telling you! Get up!"

"Five more minutes!!" her daughter yelled into her pillow.

"No more minutes!" Mrs. Renard threw open her daughter's door. "If you're not up now, your brother's leaving without you and you're walking to school."

"Mom," Lainey whined as she rolled out of bed, "bribery isn't _fair_ this early in the morning." 

"But it works," her mother said with a smile. "You've got twenty minutes before Adam leaves."

Lainey groaned and trudged toward the bathroom.

_Twenty minutes later._

"If I get detention again for tardies, Lainey," eighteen-year-old Adam Renard, a continually late Eagle senior, warned his little sister as they drove, "it's your ass."

"Yeah, yeah, I hear you," Lainey sighed, turning up Me First and the Gimme Gimmes's cover of "Science Fiction Double Feature." "I can't help it. I was up 'til two studying for my Chem test."

"But you were talking to Iris 'til ten," Adam reminded her, turning the radio down. "This music is such crap."

"It's not," Lainey snapped, before continuing, "Iris was having a crisis! Musical tryouts were traumatizing for her."

"And then you talked to Adlai until eleven," he continued.

"I get the point, _Adam_," she growled.

"Good to know, _Lainey_," he replied with a smirk as he pulled up to St. Mary's. "Now get out of the car. I've got five minutes to get across town before homeroom starts."

"Good luck~"

"Like I said," he told her as she shut the door, "if I'm late again, it's your ass!"

Lainey rolled her eyes as he sped out of the parking lot.

"Morning, Lainey!" sophomore Annie Mosley called to her. 

"Mornin', Annie," she grinned. "What's up?"

"How were musical tryouts?"

"Oh!" She blushed. "I, um, kinda didn't go. Something came up."

"Lemme guess. Stage fright?"

"Me? Never." Lainey laughed uneasily as they entered St. Mary's and began the way to Annie's locker.

"Don't worry about it," Annie told her, "I know exactly how you feel. You couldn't pay me to get up onstage."

"Yeah, last year, they barely got me on for the Variety Show. By the end, I was so scared I swore I'd never do it again."

"I bet Adlai's disappointed." She knelt down to get her morning books out of her locker.

"What?"

"I didn't mean it _that_ way, Lainey," Annie clarified, putting two hardcovers in her backpack. "I just know you two are good friends, and he's big on the whole theater thing." She shut the locker door. "Want me to go with you to your locker?" 

"Nah, that's okay," Lainey said. "Iris is probably up there already anyway."

"Alright. See ya fourth period?" Fourth period, Annie and Lainey shared Chemistry.

"How could I miss it? My life depends on it," she laughed, and headed for the nearest stairwell. Lainey's locker was on the second floor, in the east wing, the branch for foreign language classes. Annie's was on the west branch of the first floor, the science wing. In the middle of the walk was Iris.

"Foxy~!" she bellowed down the hall as soon as her friend was in view. A few girls looked up and at Lainey.

"Yeeeeeeah, Foxy Lainey!" laughed Sylvia from her locker.

"Do you _have_ to scream that?" Lainey yelled back at her friend, blushing slightly at the play on her last name, "Renard" being French for "fox."

"You know you like it," teased Iris.

"Not this early in the morning," she groaned as the two headed for Lainey's locker.

"Adam late again?" Iris asked.

"Of course. And guess who he wants to take the bus 'til he graduates."

"Let me guess…you."

"Bin-go."

"Did you tell him it's not your fault you can't get out of bed in the morning?"

"Yeah, 'cause I'm talking to you and Adlai 'til midnight all the time," Lainey said sarcastically. "He really loves that part."

"So why doesn't your mom just call Eagle to get him out on the mornings he's late?"

"You know how many Eagle kids have St. Mary's siblings, Iris. They'd never allow so many excused tardies."

"I guess…St. Mary's doesn't do it, either, after all."

The five-minute bell rang. Lainey sighed in dismay.

"Ready for that Chem test?" Iris asked.

"Not really."  
"You'll be fi~ne," she assured.

"Sometimes I wish I was in regular Chem like you are."

"Regular Chem sucks," Iris said matter-of-factly. "You're better off in honors. Your teacher's nicer, anyway."

"Sister Milligan?" asked Lainey incredulously. "She's _hard_." 

"But you learn, don't you?" Lainey shrugged. "See? We don't learn jack shit."

"Well, whatever, we're both stuck in our classes," Lainey said, a little impatient, twirling out the combination to her locker. She wasn't in the mood to continue with this conversation. "Adlai says you embarrassed the hell outta him last night," she smirked, swinging the door open and throwing her Chemistry Applications textbook inside.

"I did not!" Iris laughed. "I just told him 'Do it for Lainey!'"

"Iris, you know Adlai. That's considered embarrassing the hell outta him."

"It is not! It's encouragement." She grinned. "And --" she added "-- he _did_ do it."

"Oh shut up. You read too much into things."

"Life's more interesting that way."

"The last thing I need is more complications in my life, Iris."

"'Specially since you're going to be late for homeroom," Iris pointed out.

"Wha --"

The homeroom bell rang.

"Jesus," Lainey muttered as Iris ducked into her homeroom. "Adam's never gonna let me forget it if he hears about this…"

She said a quick prayer as she sprinted down the hall, hoping Mrs. Roman wouldn't notice her slipping in late during announcements.

_Fifth period._

Lainey groaned as she sat down at her empty lunch table in the near-empty cafeteria and considered the day's events while waiting for her friends to join her. Her English teacher would have hated such an awkward run-on sentence. She was too tired to care about run-on sentences after her day so far. Homeroom? Her attempt to sneak in had failed when she tripped over Claire Yunce's backpack, but Mrs. Roman (laughingly, may she add) let her off with a warning because of her efforts. And Chemistry? She'd forgotten the difference between enthalpy and entropy, so one part of her test was completely blown. Oh, _great_, she thought as noisy classmates flooded into the cafeteria after the second bell. On top of it all, she'd have a headache too.

"Hey, Lainey!" Annie said as she sat down. "How're you doing?"

"The Chem test was brutal," she immediately spat out.

"Oh, I know, completely." Her backpack hit the floor with a thunk. "Sister Milligan doesn't give any breaks, does she?"

"Never," Lainey agreed with a smile.

"Hey guys," Josephine Abbotsford greeted, taking a seat. "Could today get any worse?"

"What happened to you, Joey?" asked Isabel Osborne.

"My new friend Effie," she grumbled.

"Effie?"

            "Effie Perine?" Lainey asked, perking up at the sound of an allusion.

            "Or is it Effie Shrugg?" laughed Isabel, poking fun of Lainey, who frowned in response, with her own reference to cartoons.

"No, _neither_ of thoseEffies." She pulled a paper out of her backpack. "I got last week's Trig test back today."

"Ouch," Isabel winced, looking at the bright red "F" on the front of the paper. "That sucks, Joey, I'm sorry." 

"I'll get over it, Is, don't worry. I'll pull my grade up to a B by semester, and that's what matters."

At this point, Iris decided to make her grand entrance, late as always.

"Wake up, everyone!" she exclaimed, throwing her bookbag on the table, causing it to quake slightly. "What's with the graveyard look?"

"Bad morning," said Annie without hesitation.

"Uh-huh," agreed Joey. 

Lainey concurred with a sigh. Iris rolled her eyes.

"Come on, you guys are just overreacting." She slid her backpack off the table and set it on the floor. "Your days couldn't have been _that_ bad." 

"Just because you're the only one who had a good day doesn't mean that we're overreacting," snapped Lainey.

"Foxy," Iris said softly, sitting down.

"What?" Lainey replied, slightly cross.

"C'mon, cheer up, Lain. I don't like to see my best friend depressed."

"If you can find something to cheer me up, let it roll, Iris."

"Meet me outside the auditorium after gym, and I will."

The corners of Lainey's mouth tugged upward into a smile. "All right, Iris. But it'd better be good."

"It will be," Iris assured her. "I promise."

_After seventh period, outside the auditorium._

Lainey leaned against the wall adjacent to the St. Mary's auditorium doors.

"Iris is late as usual," she mumbled to no one in particular.

"You act surprised," said a senior passerby with waist-length brown hair and black-rimmed glasses Lainey did not know by name.

"You know her?"

"'Course," she grinned and stopped walking. "I'm Rachel Sikes, by the way. I don't think you know me."

"Lainey Renard."  
"Nice to meet you."

"Ditto." She grinned. "Hey, I know why I'm hanging around here, but why are you?"

"Waiting for Ms. O'Malley to post the Tech signup sheet."

"Tech?"

"Stage crew. Y'know, sets and wearing black and all that. That's how I know Iris."

"Oh," Lainey said. Was this the big surprise? If it was, it wasn't much of one.

A few moments later, Ms. O'Malley exited the auditorium, a pile of papers in hand.

"Hi, Ms. O'Malley," Lainey said.

"Hi," said Rachel.

"Hello girls," the young teacher smiled. "What are you doing out here?"

"Waiting for you to put out that list," Rachel smiled. "I wanna sign up before I forget."

"All right, Rachel," Ms. O'Malley laughed, pinning the sheet onto the bulletin board outside the auditorium. Rachel immediately signed her name in large, blocky print.

"What about you?" Rachel asked Lainey.

"Am I gonna sign up, you mean? I don't know…"

"C'mon, you'll have fun," she grinned. "And ten bucks says that if you don't Iris will just sign your name up there anyway."

Lainey laughed. "You're right."

"Which part?"

"Both of 'em." Lainey signed her name on the sheet in her loopy lettering. "There."

"All you guys are here for is the tech signup?" Ms. O'Malley asked, surprised. "That's it?"

Lainey arched an eyebrow. "What are you talking about, Ms. O'Malley?"

"WAIT, WAIT FOR ME!" Iris's yell echoed through the hallway, cutting off Ms. O'Malley's reply. "MS. O, HOLD ON!"

"Me and my big mouth," Ms. O'Malley sighed. She held up another piece of paper with smaller writing Lainey couldn't read without closer inspection. "I never should have mentioned it."

"What's that?" she asked.

"We got callbacks done earlier than expected," Ms. O'Malley explained. "So, we're posting them early too." She sighed. "And I decided to tell my vocal class during fourth period."

So _that_ was the real surprise. Lainey grinned as Iris flew up behind her.

"Surprised?" she asked.

"Definitely," Lainey said, her smile reaching from ear to ear. "Are they being posted at Eagle too?"

"Mm-hmm," assented Ms. O'Malley.

            "Adali'll be happy."

"Post it, post it, please, Ms. O!" Iris begged frantically. "This has been killing me all day!!"

Ms. O'Malley laughed and tacked the sheet to the theater board. "There, Iris!" she exclaimed lightheartedly, backing away. "Now do I get my piece and quiet?"

"Uh-huh, 'course," Iris said absently, her eyes scanning the sheet. "Omigod," she breathed.

"I don't believe it!" Lainey exclaimed.

(Who made callbacks? :D Find out next chapter! Oh, I'm evil ^.~)


End file.
